TRAN VAN HA (1911-1974), Vietnam. - Lot 155

TRAN VAN HA (1911-1974), Vietnam. Landscape with pontoon and pagoda. Lacquer panel, signed lower right and decorated with the artist's monogram. H_61.5 cm L_120.5 cm. Note : Tran Van Ha, a representative figure of modern Vietnamese painting, was born in Thanh Phuoc in 1911 and graduated from the Indochina School of Fine Arts in 1935. After several trips to the heart of Vietnam and to Europe, in 1950 he founded the Ateliers Tran Ha Saïgo, where he supervised some thirty artists. He produced paintings, gouaches and inks on paper and silk, but his most distinctive work was lacquered wood. This production can take the form of monumental panels, polyptychs, screens or larger compositions on lacquer. His synthetic style blends his sensitivity to nature with simple, legible compositions. The artist has a taste for subjects of everyday rural and river life, such as groups of women in gardens, pagoda landscapes enlivened by the presence of animals, and ritual scenes such as processions. Tran Van Ha's work is recognized by his dazzling, contrasting palette, whose highlights structure the composition. He died in 1974 in Vietnam.